Everyone is playing Internet Texas Hold’em these days. It’s on television, on the Internet and in casinos. If you’ve seen the poker explosion, you probably want to get into the action. Here’s a quick guide to the rules of Texas Hold’em.
The object of Texas Hold’em is to make your best five card poker hand using two hole cards that only you see, plus five cards in the middle of the table, called the board. Texas Hold’em is a community card game, meaning those five cards are shared by all the players, which creates a lot of interesting possibilities and situations.
Play starts when the player to the left of the dealer puts in half a bet. In games that are professionally dealt, the player who would be the dealer gets a button marked “dealer” and in fact this player is usually called “the button.” The player two to the left of the dealer puts in a full bet. These two players who put in forced bets are called “the small blind” and “the big blind” respectively. Play moves clockwise around the table starting with the player to the left of the big blind, who must either call the big blind, raise, or fold. Once the action gets back to the blinds, they have the option of folding, just calling, or raising.
Once it is determined who is still in the hand, the dealer places three cards in the middle of the table, called “the flop.” Players, starting with the small blind, now have the option to check (pass to the next player without betting or folding), bet or fold. Once a bet has been made, the remaining players can call, raise or fold. Whoever is stil in the hand now gets to see a fourth card, called “the turn” or “fourth street.” There is another round of betting, and then a fifth card, “the river” or “fifth street,” is placed on the table. Now that all players know what their final hand will be, there is a last round of betting, and whoever remains in the hand shows their cards. The best five card hand using the two hole cards and five board cards takes the pot.
Hold’em is played with three different types of betting structures. In a fixed limit game, the amount you can bet at anytime is predetermined. For example in a $3/$6 limit Hold’em game, players can bet or raise $3 before and on the flop, and $6 on the turn and river. In a no limit Texas Hold’em game, players can bet as much as they want at any time including going all-in, meaning betting all of their chips. If another player does not have enough chips to call, they can put in everything they have, but can only win the amount of the other player’s all-in bet that they matched. A pot limit game is similar to no limit, except that you can only bet up to the amount that is already in the pot.
Now you know the basics of Texas Hold’em. Mastery of the game requires a lot more than a knowledge of the rules. You’ll need study and practice and lots of it, so get started!